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Jury awards $22M to former inmate for 'deplorable conditions'

By Ashley Meeks ameeks@lcsun-news.com

Posted:
01/25/2012 09:58:51 PM MST

LAS CRUCES - A federal jury in Santa Fe awarded a former Dona Ana County Detention Center inmate $22 million Tuesday for "deplorable" conditions that allowed him to "decay" for almost two years in solitary confinement - but the county says the ruling is far from a done deal.

"There was a verdict against the county and we certainly plan to appeal it," said county spokesman Jess Williams. "We feel we have a strong case, at multiple levels, to pursue the appeal."

Williams would not elaborate, citing the county's policy of not commenting on pending litigation.

Former inmate Stephen R. Slevin, now 57, of Virginia Beach, Va., was charged in August 2005, with possession of a stolen vehicle, aggravated driving while under the influence, driving with a suspended license, possession of an open container of alcohol in a vehicle and improper use of registration, according to court records.

Slevin had a history of mental illness and, once jailed on a $40,000 bond, was placed in solitary confinement for a total of 22 months before the case went before a judge, according to his civil complaint filed in 2008, which calls the detention virtual "false imprisonment."

At one point, having "disappeared into a delirium," Slevin was sent to the New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute in Las Vegas, N.M., for a psychiatric review, and was malnourished, "smelled, was disheveled and had an overgrown beard and hair .

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.. untreated dental problems and complained of bedsores and a fungus on his skin," in addition to toenails "so long they curled under his feet," the complaint states. After two weeks, he was sent back to the jail - and to solitary confinement, where he was "forced to pull his own tooth" because the county wouldn't provide even "rudimentary dental care," according to the complaint.

In a response to the complaint, the county acknowledged that detainees are "entitled to humane treatment and medical care" but denied that Slevin lacked such care and said Slevin "at no time ... (indicated) he wanted to be moved back into general population."

Slevin was released on June 25, 2007, when state District Court Judge Douglas Driggers dismissed the charges without prejudice, finding Slevin "incompetent and not dangerous," court records show.

Ashley Meeks can be reached at (575) 541-5462; follow her on Twitter @AshleyMeeks.